Business Man: Ice cream maker brings pints home

Dec. 19, 2013

Updated 12:00 a.m.

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Milkmade ice cream pints are handmade by Diana Hardeman, a former Fullerton resident, and three other employees and delivered to around 300 monthly subscribers in Manhattan and Brooklyn. She is holding a tasting in Fullerton to help raise money and interest to expand nationally. COURTESY OF DIANA HARDEMAN

Milkmade ice cream pints are handmade by Diana Hardeman, a former Fullerton resident, and three other employees and delivered to around 300 monthly subscribers in Manhattan and Brooklyn. She is holding a tasting in Fullerton to help raise money and interest to expand nationally. COURTESY OF DIANA HARDEMAN

But while working toward her MBA at NYU, the self-proclaimed ice cream fanatic found grocery store pints to be less than satisfactory. She thought she could make a better product.

“It really started as a personal project,” Hardeman said. “That kind of snowballed into starting Milkmade.”

Started in 2009, Milkmade Ice Cream is a subscription-based ice cream service. For $30 a month, customers receive two handmade pints delivered directly to their doorsteps.

Hardeman said she is currently serving around 300 customers in the neighborhoods of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Despite the high price tag, Hardeman said her waitlist stretches to 5,000.

“We are offering more than the pint of ice cream,” Hardeman said. “Every pint is an experience.”

The ice cream is made from locally produced dairy, berries, chocolate and peanut butter. Instead of chilled delivery trucks, Hardeman and her three employees use bikes and coolers to get their “’scream” around town. It isn’t cheap to make, she said.

Hardeman is hoping to expand her service nationwide. She has started a Kickstarter (punned “lickstarter”) crowd-funding campaign to save for a larger ice cream maker and is actively looking for angel investors.

Hardeman’s hopes to attract support by speaking to the public’s taste buds.

West Coast fans of the entrepreneur are invited to attend an ice cream social from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday at Hardeman’s parents’ Fullerton home, 748 Arbolado Drive. Hardeman said guests can try her ice cream free of charge. Refreshments from a local craft brewery will also be available.

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